Surviving and thriving in uncertainty

Creating the Risk Intelligent Enterprise

The ability for businesses to survive and thrive often requires unconventional thinking and calculated risk-taking. The key is to make the right decisions — even under the most risky, uncertain and turbulent conditions.

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“Surviving and Thriving in Uncertainty is must reading for executives and organizations hoping to prosper in tough times. Interesting and provocative, this book clearly demonstrates that while effective market transparency and oversight are important, we must also restore responsible risk-taking in order to power our enterprise economy forward.”

—Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Based on their combined decades of experience as practitioners, consultants and advisors to numerous business professionals throughout the world, Funston and Wagner discuss the adoption of 10 essential and practical skills, which will improve agility, resilience and realize benefits:

Challenging basic business assumptions can help identify "Black Swans" and provide first-mover advantage

Defining the corporate risk appetite and risk tolerances can help reduce the risk of ruin

Anticipating potential causes of failure can improve chances of survival and success through improved preparedness

Factoring in velocity and momentum can improve speed of response and recovery

Verifying sources and the reliability of information can improve insights for decision making and thus decision quality

Taking a longer-term perspective can aid in identifying the potential unintended consequences of short-term decisions